Dan Hall: Obama gets it, but House Democrats don't

Monday

Barack Obama is in the White House today because Americans all across our land bought his promise of a “new kind of politics.”

Barack Obama is in the White House today because Americans all across our land bought his promise of a “new kind of politics.”

They understand, as Obama said at his inauguration Tuesday, that “the time has come to set aside childish things.” They are ready to heed his repeated calls to sacrifice for the common good.

Somehow, though, too many members of Congress have not yet gotten the message. That is true of members of both parties, but I am especially talking about Democrats, who are in control now.

Unless they make big changes in their economic stimulus bill before they send it to the White House early next month, Obama should veto it.

Economists from across the ideological spectrum agree that Congress needs to spend billions, and do it quickly, to prevent a replay of the Great Depression. It hasn’t been hard to get the House to agree — Congress never needs much of a push to spend money quickly.

It is much more difficult, though, to get Congress to spend wisely. Last week, the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office said that as the economic stimulus bill stands now, every new job it might create would cost $233,000.

Moreover, the CBO said, something like half those jobs would probably not materialize until after the crisis passes.

Finally, the bill would likely double the $1.2 trillion deficit expected this year. That would make it three times higher than the previous record, set last year.

It is almost funny to see House Republicans leading the charge for restraint. They are the people who slashed taxes while at the same time driving spending to previously unprecedented heights during the Bush administration.

Still, they are right this time.

There’s no sense of strategy behind this bill. It consists of 152 separate appropriations. Eleven of those, the CBO says, might quickly create the needed jobs. Others are good ideas — more spending on early-childhood education, health care, basic scientific research and the like — but it is hard to see how they qualify as speedy economic stimulus.

Take the time to do those things right. Don’t stuff them into a grab-bag and call it “economic stimulus.”

Our crisis grew from many causes. One of the big ones was that we thought we could spend our way to prosperity by borrowing from abroad. Now, we are heading for more of the same. We do not have much choice, because we have nothing in the bank. We have to hope that countries like Saudi Arabia and China, which do have money, will continue to lend it to us.

In his inauguration speech last week, Obama promised that “Those of us who manage the public’s dollars will be held to account, to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day. Because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government. “

On Friday, as I wrote this, Obama was meeting in the White House with congressional leaders of both parties. He was urging a more thoughtful, bipartisan approach.

If he does not succeed, he ought to tell Congress this: “Yes, I can. I will veto this bill.”

Dan Hall is the retired editorial page editor of Messenger Post Newspapers. E-mail him at danwriting@aol.com.